The Orange Mocha-Chip Frappuccino Years Explained

The Orange Mocha-Chip Frappuccino Years
Author:Paul Howard
Illustrator:Alan Clarke
Cover Artist:Alan Clarke
Country:Republic of Ireland
Set In:Dublin, 2000–2001
Language:English
Series:Ross O'Carroll-Kelly
Genre:comic novel, satire
Publisher:The O'Brien Press
Pub Date:7 March 2003
Media Type:Paperback
Pages:208
Isbn:0-86278-809-9
Dewey:823.92
Preceded By:Roysh Here, Roysh Now… The Teenage Dirtbag Years
Followed By:PS, I Scored The Bridesmaids

The Orange Mocha-Chip Frappuccino Years is a 2003 novel by Irish journalist and author Paul Howard, and the third in the Ross O'Carroll-Kelly series.[1] [2] [3]

The title refers to the Sue Townsend novel , as well as the orange mocha frappuccino drink ordered by three male models in the film Zoolander.

Background

Howard wrote The Orange Mocha-Chip Frappuccino Years in autumn 2002, intending it to be the last novel in the series. The idea of making Ross an estate agent came to Howard after shopping for a house himself and being offered a modest house for IR£750,000 by a very young estate agent.[4]

A Moscow publisher aimed to publish The Orange Mocha-Chip Frappuccino Years in Russian translation, but Howard struggled to explain the Irish cultural references. The translator wanted to change Ross to a basketball player instead of rugby; the Russian edition was never published.[5]

Plot

After dropping out of college and being kicked out of home by his parents, Ross finds work as an estate agent for Hook, Lyon and Sinker.[6]

Reception

Writing in The Irish Times, Aengus Collins reviewed it negatively, saying "Ross is a character with considerable comic potential, but regrettably little of this potential is realised here. One of the problems is that Ross is a fool living amidst like-minded fools. Too much of the reader's time is spent in the restricted company of Ross's largely identikit friends and acquaintances. […] There is little to pull the story forward, and the telescoping of Ross's emotional development, such as there is of it, into the final four pages of the book is simply lazy."[7]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ross O'Carroll-Kelly: Orange Mocha-Chip Years by Paul Howard: Ross O'Carroll-Kelly, an O'Brien Press book . 2010-09-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110928134407/http://www.obrien.ie/book457.cfm . 2011-09-28 .
  2. Web site: Ross O'Carroll-Kelly - Books - the Orange Mocha Chip Frappuccino Years . 2010-09-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100914083846/http://www.rossocarrollkelly.ie/Books.aspx?p=Mocha . 2010-09-14 .
  3. Book: From Prosperity to Austerity: A Socio-Cultural Critique of the Celtic Tiger and Its Aftermath. Eamon. Maher. Eugene. O'Brien. September 4, 2014. Oxford University Press. 9780719091681. Google Books.
  4. Book: O'Carroll-Kelly, Ross. Ross O'Carroll-Kelly: The Orange Mocha-Chip Frappuccino Years. September 12, 2012. The O'Brien Press. 9781847174420. Google Books.
  5. News: Paul Howard: Ten things I've learned writing Ross O'Carroll-Kelly. Paul. Howard. The Irish Times.
  6. Book: Gorman, Clare. The Undecidable: Jacques Derrida and Paul Howard. June 1, 2015. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 9781443883597. Google Books.
  7. News: Ross loses the plot en route to Tallaght. The Irish Times.